Monthly Archives: September 1937

The last letter

This the last of the complete letters in the set of some three hundred pages Trudel translated, some 90 letters originally written between May 1934 and September, 1937. I hope to post additional materials in the weeks and months to come – some information on her life for the next 60 years, perhaps a new photo gallery and other things. For a special treat, don’t miss the continuation of this note and the recording linked there, just below the letter and above the video clip.

Leonard
One of Trudel’s Sons

.

Papa

September 7, 1937

Happy birthday Papa! Wish we could celebrate with you.

Leonard went with me to the German service** Sunday evening and I saw many people I know.

Monday morning we went to services at Temple Sholom and Leonard was very enthused about the rabbi, who he heard for the first time. Actually, he had not been in a synagogue in four years, but saw so many people he knew.

Temple Sholom

Rabbi Louis Binstock – Temple Sholom

We saw another excellent movie, “The Life of Emile Zola.”

Love,
Trudel

The last letter – continued

Trudel was an exceptionally positive woman, and she constantly expressed gratitude throughout her life. A few years ago I came across a recording of her practicing the “Sheheyonu” for my bar mitzvah in 1956. It is a Hebrew prayer offered at every happy occasion and every holiday and celebration. It is a difficult tongue twister. Over the years it became her prayer. At every occasion we would ask her to recite it.

Listen to Trudel recite it, in Hebrew and then in English. Let us celebrate with her.

The Life of Emile Zola

Trailer

** In this letter and her previous one Trudel writes about going to the “German service.” I have been unable to identify the specific congregation she was referring to. However with the assistance of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, I have learned she may have attended a service at the North Side Jewish Center Congregation that was started around 1936-7 by German Jewish refugees and about 1946-7 changed its name to Congregation Ezra and later Temple Ezra. If she went to her friends in the Hyde Park neighborhood, she could have attended the Habonim Congregation, or one of the established congregations that were started by German-Jews — Sinai Temple, Kehilath Anshe Maariv, or Isaiah Israel.